The NFL Playoffs could also be hogging the highlight, however the NBA stays as energetic as ever. It’s Week 12 of Boston Celtics basketball, and as we close to the midway level of the 2023-24 season, now we have loads of hoops to debate. Let’s zero in on one other week of Celtics basketball.
Photograph by Erin Clark/The Boston Globe through Getty Photos
Boston Celtics, Week 12: 2-2 file, +4 differential
L @ Indiana, 133-131
W vs Minnesota, 127-120 (OT)
L @ Milwaukee, 135-102
W vs Houston, 145-113
Reader, we look like in a droop.
Or at the very least, as a lot of a droop as a group can have once they’re 30-9 in an NBA season. It’s uncommon that we’ve posted one in all these columns and not using a successful file for the week, and maybe even rarer to see a differential this low. Certainly, the Celtics had been simply 2-2 this previous week with some extent differential that ought to have been fairly a bit worse than it was. A tricky week, although not a disastrous one.
The elephant within the room: the Milwaukee loss. It’s the worst lack of the season to date, and it’s definitely one which hurts given the probability that the Celtics find yourself in competitors with the Bucks for playoff seeding. Sealing up the collection tie for the yr would have been a pleasant accomplishment. As a substitute, the Celtics fell behind early and by no means caught up, with Mazzulla opting to go away the core rotation on the bench because the groups took the court docket within the second half. A radical, wall-to-wall butt-kicking. It stings a bit.
On the identical time, it additionally feels comprehensible, at the very least a bit. This was as a lot of a schedule loss as you will note within the NBA. It doesn’t let the Celtics off the hook for a win they might have used, however this was brutal timing for a back-to-back. After the time beyond regulation win over the Western Convention-leading Timberwolves on their dwelling court docket — a thriller! — the Celtics had been instantly tasked with hopping on a aircraft to Milwaukee to face the second-best group within the East the subsequent evening. Higher groups than this one have struggled in the identical circumstances.
This yr has featured some genuinely… quirky scheduling. Maybe its as a result of integration of the In-Season Event, nevertheless it feels as if outlier scheduling situations have arisen extra incessantly. Again-to-backs really feel fairly poorly deliberate — take a look at the Sixers within the midst of a four-games-in-five-nights stretch this coming week — and enjoying consecutive video games in opposition to the identical opponent in the identical place has develop into unusually widespread. Neither of those are straightforward circumstances; an imbalance in relaxation can create some very unusual outcomes, and it’s not straightforward to beat any NBA twice in a row. Each got here into play this week, with Monday’s loss to the Pacers being their second consecutive sport on Indiana’s dwelling court docket. It’s unlucky, however you play the schedule you’re given. Upward and onward.
Saturday’s tilt with the Rockets got here with its personal intrigue, as effectively. It was former Celtics coach Ime Udoka’s return to TD Backyard, the primary time he has confronted Boston since his dismissal from the group. Some cryptic feedback in pregame interviews didn’t create a lot of a distraction, although, as the sport itself was little greater than a speedbump. The Celtics thumped the Rockets by 32.
Photograph by Maddie Meyer/Getty Photos
Participant of the Week: Jaylen Brown
4 GP, 32 MPG, 29.3 PPG (58% FG, 61% 3PT), 6.5 REB, 2.5 AST, 1 STL, +11
One outstanding stinker of a sport has usually been sufficient to disqualify a participant from successful this award. There have simply been too many standout performers this season — there’s all the time been one other man who didn’t stumble. In all honesty, although, the Bucks sport hardly even elements into this calculus. If we took a participant out of the working as a result of they struggled in Milwaukee on Thursday, there simply wouldn’t be anyone left. Who performed effectively in opposition to the Bucks? Sam Hauser and Oshae Brissett?
That line of pondering is what leads us to Brown, who was absolute nails this week exterior of the 10-point, 5-of-14 evening in opposition to the Bucks that noticed him benched at halftime. Take away the blowout loss from the equation, and his numbers had been stellar: 35.6 factors per sport on a 65% share each from the sphere and from deep. He torched Indiana to the tune of 40 factors, and each one in all his 35 in opposition to the Timberwolves had been instrumental within the Celtics’ comeback to safe that win. Towards the Rockets, he had a career-high 21 factors within the third quarter.
This has been an understated season for Brown. Each participant on the roster has needed to settle for a discount in quantity to accommodate the bevy of top-end expertise on this group, however aside from Jrue Vacation, no one’s needed to reduce greater than Brown has. His utilization price is at its lowest because the COVID-shortened Bubble season, and though he’s made significant strides as a playmaker, he’s not the form of participant who will essentially stand out if the scoring isn’t popping.
That’s to not say he’s been unhealthy. Fairly the other, actually. Brown has been terrific on this function. He’s compensated for the decreased quantity with a rise in effectivity — his 55.7% efficient area aim share is flirting with a profession excessive — and together with the aforementioned playmaking enhancements, his much-maligned deal with has seemed extra secure. A second consecutive All-NBA season is likely to be a harder promote for voters this time round, due to the ridiculous depth of the league, however this has been a few of Jaylen Brown’s finest NBA basketball.
The Parquet Play: Rejected!
Let’s preserve the Jaylen Brown love going, what do you assume? Stand up, JB!
What a ridiculous rejection. It’s not the strongest end from Jabari Smith Jr., who isn’t precisely the strongest participant within the league, however nonetheless — the elevation! Brown could not dunk fairly as incessantly or audaciously as he did earlier in his profession, however he stays a 99th percentile athlete on this league. He’s been getting after it defensively this yr, too. Massive week for #7.
Across the League: How actual are the Wolves?
Wednesday’s thrilling time beyond regulation win offers us a possibility to speak about one of many extra shocking subplots within the league this season: the Minnesota Timberwolves have spent a lot of the season in first place within the Western Convention.
We knew the West could be in a bizarre place this yr. The Denver Nuggets had been a protected guess to proceed enjoying glorious ball — and so they have — however exterior of Colorado, no one within the convention felt fully protected to depend on. In that void, the Wolves have stepped into the highlight and held on tight. They’ve remained in first place for almost your entire season. This isn’t acquainted territory for this franchise — previous to this season, they’d held first place within the West for a complete of 16 days throughout everything of their existence (hat-tip to consumer paul_f on Reddit for the information).
Is that this actual? We’re almost on the midway level of the season, and the Timberwolves haven’t faltered, which is quickly forcing us to think about that it is likely to be. Anthony Edwards is making the celebrity leap proper in entrance of our eyes, averaging a career-best all the pieces and assuming the mantle of alpha canine on this roster. Karl-Anthony Cities, lastly wholesome, has develop into an effectivity god and is flirting with a 50-40-90 season. Behind the efforts of Rudy Gobert and Jaden McDaniels, the Wolves sport one of the best defensive score in basketball. Naz Reid is among the many league’s finest backup bigs, and the ever-reliable Mike Conley Jr. is stirring the drink as all the time.
Their internet score (+5.6) sags behind the league’s elite, and so they’ve slowed considerably in current weeks, simply 4-3 of their final seven video games because the Thunder have snuck up on them. Can this group overcome their postseason demons and make an actual splash? We gained’t know till they get there. However to date, this season has far surpassed even probably the most favorable of expectations, and breathed some life right into a franchise that sorely wanted it.
Subsequent up: Bouncing again
The brand new week started for the Celtics final evening, as they confronted the Toronto Raptors on the street on Monday and walked away with a principally comfy 105-96 win. From there, the reigning #1 general decide involves city for the primary time in his profession, because the Celtics host the San Antonio Spurs and 19-year-old Victor Wenbanyama on Wednesday evening. Friday, they’ll play host to the reigning champs — Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets — earlier than touring to Houston for a rematch with the Rockets on Sunday.
The Celtics are nonetheless ready on that straightforward schedule, and so they gained’t discover it simply but. That is one other robust slate, with the rebuilding Raptors the one “straightforward” matchup on paper. We’ll be again subsequent week to debate how the Celtics fared in opposition to one other slate consisting of principally playoff-hopeful groups.
